Cast metal hopper door for railway cars



"m 0 1 w J Heifer W. P. MURPHY CAST METAL HOPPER DOOR FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Oct. 2, 1929 June 9, 1931.

' Patented June 9, 1931 UNITED s 1.A.; E

PATENT OFFICE WALTER P. MURPHY, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR 'ro UNIQNMETAL rzeonnors COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE onsr'ivm'rnr. norrnanoon non RAILWAY cans Application" filed October 2, 1929. Serial No. 396,666.

The device relates to railway freight cars and particularly to that class of equipment having doors which are opened or dropped to discharge part or all of thelading, and is adaptable to such cars whether usedw1th doors in general service cars wherein the major'portion of the floor of a gondola car consists of a plurality of horizontally positioned doors or whether used in these-called hopper cars wherein the lower portion of the car is shaped to form a hopper having its lower part closed by swingable door or may be used with the so-called ballast cars wherein a long door is hinged to the side or center construction of the car to' drop the load between or outside of the rails; in fact,

the construction may be used wherever a door in a railway car is used to support any part of the lading.

An object of the invention is to make the' door of cast metal and to vary the thickness of that portion of the door supportln the lading so as to provide greater thic 'ness where greater strength is required.

By nature of their requirements railway freight train cars'are out of doors substantially all of the time, therefore, are subjected, to corrosive action of the-elements, and while paint and other non-corrosive coatings have 7 been applied to the car parts, such protection not only has-been found to beexpensive in time and money, but the lading removes the coating. This is particularly true oftlie inside of open type cars which are turned upside down in unloading machines load to slide across the floor of the car and; also when the discharging load slides across causing the the surface of a drop door in-discharging. Furthermore, certaln lad ngs, such assulphur and wet coal, which forms sulphuric] acld, cause rolled steel or'iron to corrode. On account of its increasedstrength rolled steel in the form of the plates and bars has supplemented wood in car construction but I the corrosive action of the elements eats away the rolled steel or iron material reducing their strength and their length of life. This applies to both the load carrymg members and the lading retainingmembers, such as doors, etc. It has been found that cast metal particularly'cast steel, has more than twice the resistance to corrosion as rolled steel, therefore, one of the objects of the invention is to make the drop door of cast metal, preferably cast steel, to enable it to reslst corrosion, and furthermore, to proof cast metal is to eliminate the possibility of looseconnections which would permit relative motion between the component parts of the car part," as'it is common knowledge that the vibration of the car in motion, due to rough and uneven track, and steel wheels rolling onsteel rails,'together with longer trains and'high speeds in present day practice, cause riveted joints and built up sec tions to work loose and the railroads look with favor upon any device which reduces the number of parts and joints as they are the weakparts ofthe car andthe more such weak parts are eliminated, the longer the life of the car.

In the drawings: 7

Figs. 1, 2 and "3 show a typical application of my improved door to a general service railway car."

Figs-4, 5 and 6 shown modified form.

Figsl, 2 and 3 show a typical railway car wherein'2 is the center sill construction; 3 the cross diaphragm; 4 the side wall; 5 the lower side chord; 6 the side stake and 7 the door stop. In the type of car illustrated the a door is hingedto the center sillconstruction however, support the door when in closed position at two or three) places along the outer margin of the door, which places are preferably positioned opposite the hinge supports (9) in o'ther words, when the door is in closed positionit is supported atfour points and theweight ofthe door and the load supported thereby mustbe transmitted to these'points. "Thebody portion, orload supporting part ofthe door has a fiat upper. I

surface so as to provide a substantially flush floor when the door is used in a gondola car.

In the form illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the body portion comprises a relatively thick central portion 10. The remainder of the body portion of the door, that is, on all sides of the said thicker central portion, decreases in thickness and merges into a relatively thin portion (11) adjacent the margins of the door. This decreasing in LlliCkness is preferably gradual.

In the preferred form an integral continuous flange 12 is provided adjacent the perimeter of the door, which flange, in most cars, will project downwardly. However, it mayproject upwardly and still come within the scope of the invention; in fact, in some cars parts of this flange will project upwardly and other parts downwardly so that it will comprise several flanges instead of a continuous flange. \Vhen a flange (or flanges) is used the relatively thick portion merges into a relatively thin portion adjacent the flange (or flanges). In the form illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 a relatively thick portion is shown as rectangular. However, it may be circular or of any desired form.

In the preferred form the hinge lugs 13 and means (14) for attaching the raising devices (8) are cast integral with the door.

In the modified form shown in Figs. 4-, and 6 I provide a relatively thick middle portion 16 which extends between the opposite ends (1718) of the door so that the ends of the relatively thick portionjare positioned adjacent the hinge supports 13 and raising means 14, respectively. The remaining portion of the body part of the door, that is, on each side of said relatively thick middle portion, decreases in thickness and merges into a relatively thin portion 20 adjacent the side margins of the door. 'IVhen a flange 12 or flanges is used the relatively thick portion merges into a relatively thin portion adjacent the side flanges of the door. This decreasing of thickness is preferably gradual.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, though it to be unders'ood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof within the scope of the claims will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A cast metal hopper door for a railway car having a body part with a flat upper surface, said body part comprising a relatively thick middle portion extending between the ends of the door and a relatively thin portion adjacent each side of the door.

2. A cast metal hopper door for a railway car having a body part with a flat upper surface, said body part comprising a relatively thick middle portion extending between the ends of the door gradually merging into M I I a relatively thin portion adjacent each side of the door.

3. A cast metal hopper door for a railway car having a body part with a flat upper surface and an integral flan e adjacent each opposite end thereof, said body part comprising a relatively thick middle portion extending between said flanges and a relatively thin portion adjacent each side of the door.

4. A cast metal hopper door for a railway car having a body part with a flat upper surface and an integral flange adjacent each opposite end thereof, said body part comprising a relatively thick middle portion extending between said flanges and a relatively thin portion adjacent each side of the door, said body part comprising the sole means of transmitting the load supported by the door to said flanges.

5. A cast metal hopper door for a railway car havinga body part with a flat upper surface, said body part comprising a relatively thick central portion and a relatively thin portion adjacent the margins of the door.

6. A cast metal hopper door for a railway car having a body part with a flat upper surface, said body part comprising a relatively thick central portion gradually merging into a relatively thin portion adjacent the margins of the door.

7 A cast metal hopper door for a railway car having a body part with a flat upper surface and an integral flange adjacent its per- I imeter, said body part comprising a rela tively thick central portion and a relatively thin portion adjacent said flange.

8. A cast metal hopper door for a railway car having a body part with-a flat upper surface and an integral flange adjacent its perimeter, said body part comprising a relatively thick central portion and a relatively thin portion adjacent said flange, said body part comprising the sole means of transmitting the load supported by the door to said flanges.

W'ALTER P. MURPHY. 

